Texans Dish Out Dough Hoping To Be The Next Multi-Millionaire

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – All it took as a dollar and a dream. Just minutes ago, the Mega Millions drawing may have helped someone turn a single ticket into some $636 million.

Lotto machines were humming all day across North Texas. More than $23 million in Mega Millions tickets were sold today in Texas alone.

The dream of hitting the more than half-a-billion dollar jackpot drove the masses to splurge.

One person told CBS 11, “I figured I’d get in while it’s hot, while everyone’s buying.”

Workers at a 7-11 franchise in North Dallas said their store sold a winning Mega Millions ticket back in 2007. Tuesday night they had extra staff at the register to handle the crowd of customers looking for a repeat.

Marking off her lucky numbers one shopper said it was her first time buying a Mega Millions ticket. “Maybe I’ll win,” she said optimistically.

But the odds of that fantasy coming true are slimmer than ever. Mega Millions changed its format back in October, increasing the amount of numbers to choose from. That meant that as of Tuesday night a person’s chance of picking the right combination was one in 259,000,000.

Patrick Roberson was hoping for a change of luck, after a streak of hard times. “I’ve been laid off from work for a while, just taking my chances to see if I might win,” he said. “This could help a bunch… especially with having a sick child.”

For some that tiny glimmer of hope for a better life was worth the cost of a ticket. One person said they didn’t think they were gonna win but intended to buy tickets anyway because, “It’s worth it. If you don’t buy, you don’t win. If you do buy, you have a chance.”

Again the winning Mega Millions numbers are 8-20-14-17-39-7.

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